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SUNY Polytechnic Institute Shifts to Fully Online Bookstore

SUNY Polytechnic Institute is launching a new online bookstore in an effort to reduce textbook costs and increase the accessibility of course content. The institution partnered with course content platform Akademos to create the fully online bookstore, which will offer all required textbooks and course materials in a variety of formats.

"As we continue to meet pandemic-induced challenges through online and hybrid approaches not only to teaching, but also the student experience itself, and as SUNY Poly continues to provide even more online options for students, we saw this as an important opportunity to deliver course materials in a fully-online platform," explained John Reale, executive director of auxiliary services, in a statement. "The shift to fully online bookstore operations is reflective of our commitment to making textbooks and course materials more affordable and competitively-priced in formats that are more accessible and inclusive for students."

Through the Akademos platform, students will have access to a range of low-cost course materials, including digital and hard copy textbooks. In addition, the platform's analytics tools will allow faculty and administrators to track student engagement with course content and apply that data to student success efforts, according to a news announcement.

The online store will launch this summer; SUNY Poly will also operate an on-campus store for merchandise and apparel.

About the Author

Rhea Kelly is editor in chief for Campus Technology, THE Journal, and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

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